I've been bowl lathering for the 3 years I've been wet shaving. I've used soaps or creams and settled on using them together(super lather) for some time. I just finished a tube of Proraso blue, I have a new one, but decided to just use VDH Deluxe by itself and face lather. It worked out great. While it is not as slick as the two together, it is plenty slick by itself and enough for a face and head shave.
I follow the same steps as bowl lathering, except I go straight to face instead of the bowl.
I'll do this for a little while to see which I like more. Options....
Face Lathering